Fresh Baked
by thecloseryoulook
Summary: As part of their assigned "get to know you" tasks, Henley teaches the Horsemen how to bake. As usual, nothing is ever taken seriously. A oneshot set before the events of the film to fulfill a Tumblr prompt.


a/n: Hey Horsemen! I have for you today a fic to fulfill the Tumblr prompt "**Any fics with all the horsemen being bros together? Like the awkward first show they had to do together? (I just really want adorable horsemen fics .)**"! Sorry that it's not an awkward first show, but perhaps awkward baking would suffice?

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"Henley, really?" Merritt held the frilly apron in front of him, frowning in distaste.  
"Look, whoever's recruited us wants us to get to know each other better before we get to the real deal," she replied. "The first task they gave us is to have each of us teach the rest of the group a non-magical skill they have. My skill is baking cookies. Deal with it." She reached behind her back to tie her own apron before walking over to a confused Jack to help him tie his.  
"It is only fair, Merritt," Daniel added. "I mean, we went fishing with you and rock climbing with Jack. It is Henley's turn, after all."  
Merritt grumbled something about an affront to his manliness, but put on his apron regardless.  
The apartment kitchen was small, so the boys stood back near the doors while Henley leaned against the counter and explained what they were about to do.  
"Alright, now that we've finished complaining for the day, we are going to make some cookies. I have a copy of a chocolate chip cookie recipe that's been in my family for ages, and it's not too hard." She motioned toward one half of the counter, which was covered in all the necessary dry ingredients. "Merritt and I will handle mixing the dry ingredients, while Daniel and Jack will put together the wet ingredients." She pointed to the other half of the counter. "Then, we'll combine them and add the chocolate chips. Sound good?"  
The boys nodded as they got to work.

Jack carefully studied the list of ingredients next to their mixing bowl. "Man, what even is all this stuff?"  
Daniel plucked the paper from his hands and read it over. "Really, Jack? This is simple - oil, butter, eggs, vanilla extract." He raised an eyebrow. "You really don't know too much about food, do you?"  
Jack shook his head. "Nah. Cooking wasn't really a big thing when I was a kid. We mostly ate frozen dinners and stuff." He looked embarrassed, and Daniel could tell the memory was not a pleasant one.  
"Well, hey, it's fine," Daniel assured him. "I can show you, it's not hard. My mom used to bake all the time when I was little…"

On the other side of the kitchen, Henley stood and watched as Merritt fumbled through the assorted measuring cups. "Aren't you going to help?" he asked.  
"Nope," she replied. "I already know how to bake. You're going to learn."  
Merritt held up a medium-sized cup. "This is a half cup, right?"  
Henley nodded encouragingly, and Merritt grinned back.

"You guys done yet?" Henley called over to Jack and Daniel.  
"Yup," Jack replied, bringing over their bowl.  
"Okay, let's mix these together then. How about - Merritt, you pour the wet ingredients into the dry, and Daniel, while he's pouring, you mix them in." They nodded, and Henley turned to Jack. "Jack, let me show you how to set the oven to preheat."

Once the ingredients were all mixed and the oven's temperature was climbing steadily, Henley pulled out several cookie sheets.  
"Now's the fun part- we need to form the dough into little balls and line them up on these sheets." She spotted Jack reaching out to take a bit of dough and slapped his hand away. "And you can eat the cookies when they're done!" Jack pouted, but Henley ignored him.  
They each took a baking sheet and began rolling the dough into balls. It was then that Merritt got an idea. He took a dough ball in his hand and elbowed Jack, who was standing next to him. Putting a finger to his lips, Merritt made a throwing motion with the hand holding the dough. Jack grinned enthusiastically and grabbed a dough ball of his own. Jack pointed first at himself, and then at Daniel, indicating his target. Merritt nodded and pointed at Henley. Putting up his fingers, Merritt counted down from three.  
On one, they each launched their ball of dough at their target. Henley shrieked and Daniel shouted out in surprise. Laughing madly, Merritt and Jack dipped their hands back into the bowl of dough to reload. Not ones to back down from a challenge, Henley and Daniel were fast to join them. The tiny kitchen filled with laughter and shouting as the two opposing teams tried valiantly to cover their opponents in as much cookie dough as possible.  
After a few minutes, Henley stuck her hand in the bowl to find it empty. The other three were soon to discover the same thing, and they looked around the kitchen. Cookie dough was everywhere - not just on themselves, but on the counters, cabinets, walls, and floor.  
Merritt cleared his throat. "Ah… Looks like we'll need to make some more dough."  
"We should probably clean up first, though," Daniel added. He turned to Henley for her approval, but she was gone. They heard the sound of running water and a slamming door before Henley called back to them, "You can learn to clean, too!"


End file.
